I had a weird unpleasant experience I will share. I ride for pleasure on the rural roads in my area. I ride a "racy" bike but I am slow and don't worry about it. I ride with another guy sometimes who has been riding for several years but would never consider racing (I have raced quite a bit).

I noticed some months ago that his speed increases a bit and he always pulls ahead of me when we see another person not in a car. This would include people going the other direction and joggers etc.. We don't see a lot of other people however. In two years of riding we "caught up" to other riders for the first time.

My riding partner bolted out of the saddle upon seeing the rider (s) on the horizon and took off like a madman. The poor rider ahead was taking a drink when this guy with me swoops out around him riding waaay too close considering the road was empty. I was totally in shock.

I slowed and said "hi" from across the road but I should have apologized. I gave the guy a good talking too and tried to make him understand what it would be like to be the other guy. It got pretty angry and made my point..

Sometimes, if someone passes me on my morning workout I'll try to keep up with them to see what their pace is like. But I won't struggle to pass them because I know better then to out-pace my ability 10-20 miles from home. And like you said, I don't want to annoy someone speeding by and then slowing down. Keeping pace with a faster rider for a longer time is more challenging than passing them.

I won't get that close to them either. Just like I don't get right up on someone's tail when I'm standing in line at a store. It's kind of creepy.

I also do this. (Should be past tense, in my younger days.) I really helps my workout by testing my abilities. I try to stay at least 30 feet back from them, but they usually notice I'm following.

I'm probably the least competative cyclist ever. I could care less who is faster than me. That said, if I am enjoying the pace I'm at, and someone ahead is riding at a slower pace, I will pass them. On more than one occasion, said slow rider has decided to pick up the pace and pass me just to get ahead again. I find that seriously annoying, you can see them struggling to maintain a pace they aren't comfortable at...just to save face? I wonder if it's the same folks that drive 50mph on the highway and all of a sudden kick it up to 65mph when you get in the left lane to pass them?

I'm with you. I ride at my pace and I don't particularly like to ride with a group since I've been riding solo most of my life. Last week I caught up (at a light) with a couple of guys with nice CF bikes and full kits. They were apparently discussing their last bike race so I stayed behind them expecting them to be fast. They plodded along at about 14-16 mph on a flat so I passed them. 5 min later they came roaring past me at about 22-23 mph got about 100 m ahead and dropped back to 18 or so. Since I didn't want to play that game I just stayed behind them until they finally turned off. I guess being nearly 2x their age on an old steel bike without a kit or bike shoes they had to prove that they could go faster than me.

I'm with you. I ride at my pace and I don't particularly like to ride with a group since I've been riding solo most of my life. Last week I caught up (at a light) with a couple of guys with nice CF bikes and full kits. They were apparently discussing their last bike race so I stayed behind them expecting them to be fast. They plodded along at about 14-16 mph on a flat so I passed them. 5 min later they came roaring past me at about 22-23 mph got about 100 m ahead and dropped back to 18 or so. Since I didn't want to play that game I just stayed behind them until they finally turned off. I guess being nearly 2x their age on an old steel bike without a kit or bike shoes they had to prove that they could go faster than me.

I am a roadie and a commuter. Sometimes I ride slow, and sometimes I ride fast. My speed on a given ride depends on a number of factors, but rarely ever the speed of another cyclist unless it's someone I'm trying to ride with.

The thing about passing other riders is you have no idea whether the other rider is pushing it or on a recovery ride, or just winding down after a 60-mile ride, or has tired legs from riding 100 miles the day before or 250 miles the previous week. If it makes you feel good about passing a roadie, then go ahead and gloat, but the reason might have nothing to do with your relative fitness or speed.

i am a roadie and a commuter. Sometimes i ride slow, and sometimes i ride fast. My speed on a given ride depends on a number of factors, but rarely ever the speed of another cyclist unless it's someone i'm trying to ride with.

The thing about passing other riders if you have no idea whether the other rider is pushing it or on a recovery ride, or just winding down after a 60-mile ride, or has tired legs from riding 100 miles the day before or 250 miles the previous week. If it makes you feel good about passing a roadie, then go ahead and gloat, but the reason might have nothing to do with your relative fitness or speed.

I am a roadie and a commuter. Sometimes I ride slow, and sometimes I ride fast. My speed on a given ride depends on a number of factors, but rarely ever the speed of another cyclist unless it's someone I'm trying to ride with.

The thing about passing other riders if you have no idea whether the other rider is pushing it or on a recovery ride, or just winding down after a 60-mile ride, or has tired legs from riding 100 miles the day before or 250 miles the previous week. If it makes you feel good about passing a roadie, then go ahead and gloat, but the reason might have nothing to do with your relative fitness or speed.

Yep. The only reason I have ever "raced" another cyclist was early on, just to see if I could keep up. There were a couple of times that others have tried racing this "old fat poser in spandex". I would meet the challenge, or not, depending on my mood, and mode. When I did, they were often surprised.

I should do their interval then...1 10 sec burst every 30 mins apparently I think I could handle that not sure if it would make me faster though. I remember doing windsprints in high school and the intervals were a little bit closer together :idk:

Sometimes it's the other way around and it's the roadie who wants to race. I had one yesterday, this was on a MUP, I guess he was was trying to drop me. He was going a reasonable speed so I didn't care, and so I was letting him stay ahead about 50 feet. But then speeding up to the point of getting squirrelly on turns and jumping out of the saddle while approaching pedestrians is a little much, and when he started splitting between groups on both sides of the path I slowed way down so that no one would mistake me for being one of whatever he was.

I see this way too often on the trails and it kind of bugs me. No cyclist who really is fast is going to feel the need to prove it on a crowded MUP, so in reality they're demonstrating that they're not fast by going as fast as they can?

I admit it, if I'm on the road and I see a serious looking cyclist (ie, with a good bike and all decked out) up ahead, it's fair game. I'm going to try to catch him. If I'm in jeans and a t-shirt even better, but it's just a game not a race.

I just had a thought: If you're on a "slow" bike in regular clothes and you find yourself approaching a kitted-out roadie, wouldn't it be even more satisfying to strike up a friendly conversation as you hold their pace, rather than "beating" them?

If course, then it would become too obvious if they were in fact taking it easy.

I think I've pinned on a number 25 or 30 times this season, plus group rides, team mock races, sprint drills, etc. So I'm not really interested in racing random people on the way to work. I'm in JRA/base miles phase right now. You are welcome to get on my wheel, come around, give me The Look, drop me, and then post about your "victory" on BF. As long as you do so safely, of course.

I'm a ****ty competitive racer but I do admit to being a decent urban-cyclist/idiot with a penchant for black bikes, black spandex, and black messenger bags. Nevertheless, I've never had any desire to "race" someone who passes me at 22 in a bike lane or while FRAPing (see posts above for boring examples). First of all, the only time I ride in a bike lane/MUP or FRAP is when I am intentionally keeping pace with a slower cyclist. Secondly, any race with a fredly commuter tends to end the instant I BLOW the first traffic signal.

I commuted for approx 3 years in the 80s. Didn't ride again until 2006 when I started commuting again. Didn't try my first group ride until 3 years ago. Approx 2/3 of my miles are commuting, the rest are group/solo rides. As I got back in shape those first few years before my first group ride, I, too, would sometimes pass a roadie on his fancy carbon wunderbike. Back then, unless I was sick, I would ride my commuter hard all the time. When I'd pass a roadie, I thought I was accomplishing something. It didn't dawn on me the roadie might've been taking it easy for some reason. It wasn't until I started some group riding (including trying some training crit rides) and reading up on training / racing that i realized that there are many different kinds of rides a roadie might do (e.g. a recovery ride, tempo ride, FTP attempt, etc.). I'm now occasionally in the other position - i.e. the roadie doing a recovery ride, let's say - when a commuter passes me. Back in the day, I hated getting passed (especially by a commuter - if the guy looked like Lance Armstrong, it wasn't so bad as I'd give the bike/kit the credit). Now, I don't take myself so seriously (and am a stronger rider than ever).

At a FCN of 8, I don't have many opportunities to pick up points. 8 is high, but your typical Portland commuter is >11, I figure. So I have to pass pretty much everyone I see, when I'm in the mood for the game.

Haha, that's awesome, had never seen that. My FCN of 14 pretty much guarantees I can pick up points from anyone, anytime, lol. Not sure if it's 16 though, 2 for the trailer and 2 for the two tots in seats it.

I commute on a road bike, in road bike gear, but I have a backpack with my change of clothes, computer, etc on. This is the same for the vast majority who do a commute similar to mine due to distance and a good climb each way. I often will pass slower bikers if I know my pace will likely stay faster then theirs, but always try to do so safely. There are many people who are much faster the I, and if they want to pass me I try to let them pass safely. If I am felling up to a challenge I may then speed up to see if I can match their pace (at a reasonable distance back). It never seems to bother them and eventually they either speed up or I slow down and thats it (often when we hit a big hill).

Sometimes someone on a hybrid will do this, typically peddling quite hard, and that is fine by me. The only time this annoys me is when they burst pass me at one point then slow down, making me either slow down to follow or pass them. Not sure why they worked so hard to pass me only to later slow down below my pace.

I had a really annoying case like this the other day - parts of my commute are shared with commuters who do not take my full commute (in city only, or take ferry instead of the bridge). They typically ride hybrid or mountain bikes and wear there work clothes. Nothing wrong with any of this, but the other day a guy who I had passed on a hill made a point to later pass me at a traffic light when it turned green (it was a long light so he caught back up). He peddled hard right away when the light tuned green to get in front of my while I was still slow and clicking into my peddles. Hey then proceeded to ride at a leisurely 10 mph in front of me, in a narrow bike line with thick stop and go traffic, making sure I had zero options but to follow his slow pace till he turned off a few minutes later. Not sure why he felt the need to pass me at the light, had he gone slower and followed me the first few seconds I would have been in front of him and soon gone, but he made a definite point of getting in front of me and then slowing down.

I had a really annoying case like this the other day - parts of my commute are shared with commuters who do not take my full commute (in city only, or take ferry instead of the bridge). They typically ride hybrid or mountain bikes and wear there work clothes. Nothing wrong with any of this, but the other day a guy who I had passed on a hill made a point to later pass me at a traffic light when it turned green (it was a long light so he caught back up). He peddled hard right away when the light tuned green to get in front of my while I was still slow and clicking into my peddles. Hey then proceeded to ride at a leisurely 10 mph in front of me, in a narrow bike line with thick stop and go traffic, making sure I had zero options but to follow his slow pace till he turned off a few minutes later. Not sure why he felt the need to pass me at the light, had he gone slower and followed me the first few seconds I would have been in front of him and soon gone, but he made a definite point of getting in front of me and then slowing down.

Just one question. If the guy who did that to you had been on a road bike, would it have annoyed you just as much?

__________________The value of your life doesn't change based on the way you travel. - Dawn Schellenberg (SDOT)

Bikes: The same GT Outpost Mountain bike I've been riding since 1996, although I modify it throughout the year for commuting, touring, and recreational riding.

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I've had the same experience when riding a long day tour. I had been on the saddle for about 7 hours one very hot day when I passed through a little college town with a big hill. This was just about the point when I was really exhausted from climbing all morning, so I started chugging up the hill like an old VW Bus running on fumes. Just as I'm about half-way up, a very pretty college girl, maybe 18, wearing a dress and riding a fat-tired beach cruiser with a textbook-filled wicker basket on front whizzes by me, gives me half-a-smile, and leaves me in the dust. "Hey...you're just on your way to the next class. I'm on my way to the next STATE!!!!"